Which car do you think will handle better in inclement weather, a Honda Civic or Accord? I will have winter tires.
With winter tires, they are basically equivalent. Perhaps you need some other criteria to determine which is better for you. I have an '03 Civic manual trans with winter tires and it is a great winter car. I live in the Pocono mountains of PA and we get a good deal of snow and I live on a steep hill, no problems. I would expect a Honda Accord would be about the same. I just like the size, handling, and better mpg I get with the Civic.
I’d get a Civic, I think it is Honda’s best built vehicle.
Our church secretary had a Honda Accord that she and her late husband purchased sometime in the late 1990’s. A year or so ago, she decided it was time to replace the Accord. She said that the present Honda Civic is about the same size as her earlier Accord and that the Accord had grown larger. She is very happy with the Civic. We live in the midwest and she survived our winter snows quite well with the Civic.
I would guess they would be about the same. Decide for yourself which one you like better and buy it.
My 1998 Civic was a fantastic snow car when I lived in upstate NY–of course I had 4 new winter tires. If you have a choice I would recommend a manual transmission no matter if you choose a Civic or Accord for better control in snow. (and it is 10x more fun!)
Don’t bother with AWD cars, especially Subaru. Nothing but problems with the engines and extreme maintenance costs on the drive systems. AWD does not help you stop or turn, it just makes unskilled drivers feel overconfident. Those are the ones you see spun out or on their roof in the median every winter.
They both sit rather close to the road, so they’ll handle pretty good, until you get into deep snow, then it’ll be hard to get around.
I guess it depends upon your point of view. Those awd Subarus owners think they have less maintenance in their lifetime than half the fwd cars only made out their. Whether people get or need an AWD is situational. I agree that fwd cars like Hondas with low ground clearance are not much in deep snow.
So, Obviously you can survive upstate where snow removal is a national past time but I know from experience, you’d better pick and choose your travel times there w/o awd.
I doubt that there is much difference. But the Accord is too big since it was redesigned. If I were buying a new Honda today, I’d pay a lot more attention to the Civic.
On my two previous Subarus, with a total odometer mileage of well over 275k miles, my repair costs were lower than for any of my previous cars–including a Honda Accord.
As to maintenance costs, my only additional maintenance with a Subaru is changing the oil in two differentials, instead of just one. And, of course, as with all other AWD vehicles, you have the potential of some extra expense in the event of a tire that cannot be repaired.
I never had tire issues, or engine issues, or transmission issues, or AWD mechanism issues with either of those Subarus, and in fact, they were the absolutely most reliable cars that I ever owned. As a result, I recently bought my third one.
Unfortunately, almost all of the people who spout-off with negative comments on Subarus have either never owned one, or have owned one but failed to do even basic maintenance on the car.
As the Packard folks used to say, “Ask the man who owns one”.
A not-so-insignificant difference between these vehicles is the availability of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and traction control. You simply cannot get it on a Civic unless you splurge for the (IMO) very expensive EX-L model. It’s standard on the Accord.
So you can get a base model Accord for less than what it will cost you to get a Civic with the same safety features which might prove very helpful in inclement weather. Of course you won’t have the same luxury features as in the Civic EX-L, but in most ways the Accord really is a nicer car.
Of course, there are plenty of small car options that give the same safety features and the same or better reliability at significantly lower prices than you can get the Civic, but you’d have to look at other brands…
The one Subaru I had was more reliable than the Honda, and all the Toyotas I’ve had. They don’t make trucks and the dealership is too far away for me to keep buying them.
I too have NEVER had drive train issues with my 4wd vehicles, other than what I’ve broken while off roading and plowing…things 2wd vehicles can not do.
So how much do we have to listen to this anti awd/4wd tripe when the real issue is not the drive train, but who makes the car…
BTW, the longest wear I ever got from a set of tires, was on my awd Subaru…50K plus miles and going strong when I sold the car.
Thanks. Does the Civic sit lower to the ground than any other compact or sedan?
There are some differences.
When I did a comparison on cars.com, I chose the LX versions of each.
The big ones for me are:
4 wheel disc brakes on the Accord, but not on the Civic.
Both cars come with ABS, however, but I don’t like any car that doesn’t have 4 wheel disc brakes.
The Civic comes with a 140 hp engine, vs the Accord’s 177 hp engine.
This should actually allow the Civic to take off with greater easy in slippery conditions.
The Civic also comes with 205/55-16 tires vs the Accord’s 215/60-16 size tires.
There really shouldn’t be much of a difference in cost, but the thinner tire might perform slightly better in slick conditions.
The Civic weighs in at ~2700 lbs, vs the ~3200 lbs of the Accord.
This can go in a hundred different directions, so I won’t expand more on this one, other than saying that more weight can help the tires bite into the snow better for traction, under most normal circumstances, and might help you fight through tire ruts in the pavement without loosing control while changing lanes slightly better.
The only other thing I would look at would be the weight distribution on the two cars, and compare that. Whichever one is closer to 50/50 would have the most neutral feel to it, where as one with a higher front bias might take off easier in the snow, but might be more likely to lose the rear end while changing lanes and hitting tire ruts, or lose the rear end while cornering, and hitting a bump.
After all those are thought of, and taken into consideration, it comes down to which car you like more, and fits you and your driving habits better. If you have taller passengers frequently, the Accord has more head and leg room, front and rear. They will appreciate that. The accord also has a pass through in the back seats to access the trunk. Sometimes that comes in very handy.
BC.
Not sure right off hand, but if you look at the data over on edmunds.com, they tend to list ground clearance for some new models, but it’s mostly older models I’ve seen listed.